Sublime

Our Constitution of 1787 was not a perfect instrument; it is not perfect yet. But it provided a firm base upon which all manner of men, of all races and colors and creeds, could build our solid structure of democracy.”

Free citizens must be able to choose how they want to live, and equal citizens must have the same power to shape the law as everyone else. Both types of freedom have inherent value, in addition to their instrumental value in protecting one another.

The amendment established the principle of birthright citizenship (thus overturning Dred Scott and making blacks citizens), and, with its equal protection clause, put the idea of equality into the Constitution for the first time, making the federal government, not the states, the protector of Americans’ liberties.